Steam-trap.



N0. 706,78l. v Patented Aug. 12, I902.

W. H. REYNOLDS.

STEAM TRAP.

(Application filed July 9, 1901.)

(No Modl.)

33 35 2 31 29 P 27 341 32 26 as o 0 a 22 7 25 2 1 J Law 3 I 1% 1 l 1 347 i 12 1 Z3 W 1 5 l 1 19 M1 40 j i 5 440 LIE-u iven humans hares STEAWFI TRMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part or Letters Patent No.706,781, dated au ust in, icon, Application filed July 9, 1901. Serial No. 67,674 (No model.)

To all whom it m y concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. REYNOLDS,

a citizen of the United'States', residing at Houston, in the cou nty of Harris and State of Texas,

of which the following is-aspecification.

This invention relates to improwements in have invented a new and useful Steam-Trap,

steam and water separators, and more par-' ticularly to that class wherein the valve'controlling the escape of the water of condensation from the collecting-trap is operated by actuated by the wasteam-inlet port arranged within the floatcylinder. and carries at its upper end a valve having an escape-port adapted to register with a steam-pipe when the float is in its'dropped,

better understood, the same consists in the position, thereby to permit any steamwithin said pipe to escape, thus to allow the valve controlling the escape of water from the trap to seat itself under the internal pressure off the trap. The valve that connects with the stem of the float is provided with a port which communicates at one end with the steameinlet port of the said hollow stem and which when the valve is raised registers with the bore of the said steam-pipe and allows steam entering from the floatcy linder to pass through the steam-pipe and unseat the valve that controls the water-escape pipe, thus to permit the water of condensation contained within the trap and the float-cylinder to escape. The

mechanism thus described for eifecting the automatic cut-oifof the escape of water or the automatic supply of steam to efiect unseating of the water-escape-controlling valve is th0roughly effective in operation; but I have found in practice that there. is more or less friction between the valve in-the floatcylincauses the device to be less sensitive in operation than is desired. I A

which friction The object of the present invention is to provide a novel form of valve to govern the supply of steam to the piston acts-sting the valve that controls-the escape of water from the collecting-trap, the'valve to be in the na to re of a balanced valve, provision being made whereby the steam-pressure will be equal on thectop and bottom of the valve at all times, thereby to render thesame extremely sensitive of operation, the construction of the valve and the manner in which it is operated to be such as efiectually to obviate all danger oi the valve becoming'locked in its seat,

' A further object is to provide means associated with the float-cylinder by which with accuracy to control the movement of the float to prevent the valve carried therehy from closing the steam-port in the steam-supply pipe coacting with the piston that operates the water-escape valve until all the water in the main separator has been discharged or to regulate such means to cause the iioat-valve to close just at the time that complete-discharge of the Water is effected, thercbyto pre-.

vent any waste of. steam.

With these and other objects in View, as

will appear as the nature of the invention is novel construction and combination of parts of a steam and water separator, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a I part of this specification, and in which like numerals of, reference indicate corresponding parts, I have'illustrated a formant-embodiment of the invention embodying the essential features of the invention, it being understood that the exact construction and arrangement of; parts herein shown may be varied or changed and still be within the scopecf the invention, and in the drawings Figure 1 is a view in vertical sectional elevation of a "steam and water separator sinbodying the essential features of the invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional detail view, on an enlarged scale, showingthe arrangement of the balanced valve for controlling the supply of steam to the water-escape-valvia-actuating means. Fig. 3 is a view in horizontal sectime taken on the line 33 of Fig, 1 looking in the direction of the arrow. a

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates an ice.

. tionofthefcasing, as at 5.' The baseflange has adrain cock Ggd'ephding from one por-'- ro tionthereofpand from another portio'nris connected the'mech'anism' for abut-rolling the escape (if-Water from. th-e'casing,-'as will herein- "atter appear. -The necks 2 and 3.are coupled to lines of piping, (not showm) one tdsup 1 5: ply thesteam to be subjected-t0 the s'eparat-f in'g action-and theother to convey-away the steam thus treat'ed, The-interior ofthe cas- 'ing at a point inte rr'nediate of itsjends-is provided with downwardl'yr projecting" ribs or Wings '7, operating "to preventthe water of condensation from splashing upwardafter it has onceescaped the lower portion of the separator, thereby to prevent T811011 water of condensation from coming in contact withandafiecting the steamin the upper portion of the casing. The said ribs are in the form of an-in'verted conical grate integrally formed with a vertically-arranged pipe or tube 8, centrally and removablypositioned in the with-the lower neck 3, the upper extremity ofthe tube 8,.directly under'the inlet-neck 2, being providedwith a bathe-cap '9, having a depending periphery 10, overhanging the upper portion of the pipe or tubeto prevent the I water of condensation froi'n running under the cap and into"the pipe or tube 8. This bafile-cap-also-forms a practical means ofcommunication between the pi-p'e or tube and the interior of the casing, this being accomplished by openings presented by a plurality of ribs 11, extending from the lower edge of the cap to the upper portion of the tube or pipe." The ribs 11 also serve as an auxiliary means for catching th'e moisture from the steam, vand this moisture wil-l be caused to flow toward the edge of the cap and be de- 1 posited in the bottom portion ofthe casing. The incoming steam first striking the cap 9 will deposit the greater portion ofthe contained moisture, as well as any entrained greas'eor other impurities, and after passing between the ribs 11 the steam will have become dry and'will flow down through the pipe or tube8into the outlet-pipe and thence to the place of use. I In the employment of the separator the lower orbottom portion'of the casing 1, which constitutes the Water-chamber of the "apparatus, is designed to holdsufiicient water to operate the float mechanism and its'coacting valve mechanism, as will hereinafter appear, and at any time should it be designed to draw out the water from the lower portion or blow out any accumulated sediment this maybe effected by any suitable mechanism,

the form herein shown and constituting the The casing is provided with trap and rises from and is preferably integya l p municati-on presented by the pipes 13, 14, and

gist of the present invention being employed.

Suchmechanisnr comprises a float-cylinder 12, connectcdto the lower portion of the water-chamber of the trap and to-the upper portion of the same and ata pointintcrmediate of-its length by short sections of pipe 13, l i, and 15, respectively, the lower pipe l-dbeing above the bottom of the casing and the up per pipe being extended through the side of the trap and tapped into the cap 7, the inferm'ediate 'pipel establishing communication between the trap andthe float-cylinder at a 'point'about two-thirds of the height, more or less; ofthe latter; Each of the pipes carries a valve 16,117, and 18,.the valve 16 controlli'ngthe escape of dry steam into the floatcylinder, .the valve 17 controlling the escape 'of water or steam to the cylinder, and the valve 18 operating to control the drop of the "fl'oat' as by'opening or closing this latter valve the float can be regulated so'that it will not drop down and close the valve mechanism in the upper portion of the float-cylinder, presently to be described, until all the water in the trap has been discharged, orit may be regulated-so that the valve mechanism referred to will close at the same instant that all of the water is discharged from the trap, thereby avoiding any waste of steam.

-With the exception of, the source of com 15 the cylinder 12 is tightl'ysealed and is so pplied with upper and lower heads 19 and 20,

the upper head being a hollow structure provided at its lower end with a flange 20 to en gage a similar fiange'21 on the upperrend of the float-cylinder,bolts.22,passing through the flanges, serving to hold-the head- 19 and the float-cylinder securely assembled. With the exception of the addition'of the pipeland the head-'19, with its contained mechanism now'to be explained, the. parts of the apparatus so far described are the same as those shown in the patent referred toand' operate in substantially the same manner. Mounted .for free movement within the float-cylinder is a float '23, having connected with its upper portion, the lower end of a stem 24, the upper end of the stem being pivotally connected with' one end of an arm 25, the other end of the arm 'beingpivotally connected to the innerside of the head 19, as shown at 26; Connected intermediate of the ends of the arm 25 is one end of an arm 27, the other end of which;

is pivotally connected with one end of an arm-' 28, the other end'of this latter arm being pivoted to a support 29, carried by a-valve-casing 30, formed integral with or secured to the head 19'. with two-valve-seats 31 and 32, these seats being engaged by tapered valves 33 and '34, carried-by a valve-stem 35, the valve-stem beingprovided with an orifice through which The valve-casing 30vis provided .projects the arm 28, as clearly shown in Fig.

2. Arranged in the top of the head 19 is a plug or cap 36, the connection between the plug or cap and the head 19 being preferably voavsi by a screw connection, thereby tor permit the cap to be detached when it is desired to remove the valves 33 and 331. The two valves 33 and 3a and their connecting-stem 35 constitnte a balanced valve, as it will be apparent by reference to Figs; 1 and 2 that the steam-pressure-is equal on the upper and lower sides of the valves, and in order to ingwiththe head 19 below the valve 34.. The

lowerextremity of the steam-pipe 38 is tapped i nto acylinder. 39,the same being by preference piston 40, carrying a winged stern 41,

disposed in a horizontal plane below the bot tom of the trap and has mounted therein a working in a valve-casing 42 and operating to control or open thegmain trap or water-escape valve 43, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. This trapvalve regulates a communication between a pipe 44, carrying a valve 45, the pipe being connected with the base-flange 4, and a discharge'pipe 46, the latter operating to run ed the water of condensation or other accumulated matter from the trap. The area of the piston is greater than that of the trapvalve 43 in order to overcome the resistance set up by the valve due to the-pressure'exerted by the water of condensation. The

casing 1 has associated with it a gage 47, by

' escapes through the which the amount of water within the trap may be readily ascertained. v

The operation of the device is as follows:

Assuming the parts to be in the position shown in Fig. 1, with the float-cylinder down and the valve 43 seated, the water of con-' densation passes to the float-cylinder through the pipe'l t, which in this instance is located at such distance above thebottom of the trap as to permit the same to be two-thirds full of water before escape takes place to the floatcylinder. As the water of condensation passes through the float-cylinder, the float is slowly lifted, and through the medium of the stem 24, arms 25 and 28 lifts the valves 33 and 34 from theirseats,therebypermittiugdry steam to-pass through the pipe 13, down through thevalve-seats 31 and 32 into the steam-pipe 38 and thence to the cylinder 89, forcing the piston to one side and freeing the valve 43 from its seat. When the-parts are in this position, thewater of condensation in the trap pipe 44, past the valve 43, and out through the escape-pipe46, and this continues until the level of the water within the trap has sunk below the level of the pipe 15 and when this occurs the float will have reached aposition to effect auto- .ation of these valves will heads the medium of the float, any danger of the the combination with a trap,

matic closing of the valves 33 .and 34:, thereby cutting off the escape of steam-to the cyl inder 39, whereupon the valve d3 will be seated from the pressure of water remaining in the trap. As 15 is of comparatively small area as compared with the pipe 44, so that by closing the valve on the pipe the float will be held raised until allof thewaterin the trap has been discharged, whereupon by opening the valve 18 the'float will be permitted todrop, and thereby close the valves 33 and 3a in the manner described. By the arrangement of valves in the floatcylinder shown and described positive opercted through valves becoming inoperative, as from becoming rust locked or bound, being positively obviated by the contour of the valves.

From the foregoing it is thoughtthat the construction, operation, and many advan-j tages of the herein-described invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art without further description, and it will be understood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to withont'departing from the spiri t or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

j What I claim. is-

1. In a device of the character described,

the combination with a trap, a float-cylinder, valve-controlled water-relieving means for the trap and a float within hollow head located at the float-cylinder, said head at one side thereof, a balanced valve controlling the communication between the float-cylinder and the valve-casing, connecting devices operatively connecting the heat and the balanced valve, and a conduit extending-from the valve-casing to the waterrelievin'g means to convey steam to said wator-relieving means when the balanced valve is opened by the actuation of the float.

2. In a device ofthe character described,

upper end i of the arranged float-cylinder, valve-controlled wator-relieving means for the trap and a float within the cylinder, at the upper end of the float-cylind er, a valvecasinglocated within said head, at one side thereof, a pivoted arm mounted in the head opposite the casing, a balanced valve conbefore pointed out, the pipe the cylinder, of a of a hollow head located too a valve-casing located within an exteriorly trolling the communication between the floatcylinder and the valve-casing, vices effecting an operative connection between the pivoted arm, the float and the balanced valve, and a conduit extending from the valve-casing to the water-relieving means connecting detoconvey steam to said Water-relieving means when the balanced valve is opened by the ac tion of the float.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a trap, an exteriorlv arranged float-cylinder;

cylinder, water-relieving means for the trap,

a float Within said I a-conduit extending from'the float-cylinder to the water-relieving means, and a valve controlling said conduit'and connected to the float for actuation thereby, of a valve-con- .trolled pipe establishing communication between the upper portion of the trap and the v .fioat-cylinder at a point above the float to permit the escape of steam to the cylinder, a

second iralve-controlled pipe extending between the trap and cylinder at a point adjacent to the first-named pipe to permit the escape of water from the trap to-the float-cylinder, and a third valve-controlled escape-. 1

'p'ipe establishing communication between the trap and cylinder adjacent to the lower extremities thereof, said last-named pipe serving to permit the escape of water'from the float-eylinder'in any desired ratio to the;

escape of water from the trap, for the purpose of effecting the depression of the fioat' and the closing of the balanced valve either before or after the trap has been entirely.

emptied,-or at the moment of complete dis- Witnesses:

ALBERT J; AMPOLIS, GEORGE M. COLBY.

WILLIAM H. REYNOLDS... 

